Thursday, April 19, 2007

Here comes the sunshine.....

After almost three weeks of col and dreary weather, yesterday afternoon, the sun came out and said hello. I still can't believe it. Naturally, the first response for a knitter to warmth and sunshine is to get out the dye pot and yarn and start playing with colors! The following pictures show to days worth of dyeing. Well, we are slow, but we enjoy it tremendously. We used both, powdered Easter egg colors and for the first time I tried Jacquard colors. The procedure was the same. I use the microwave oven, and not the crock pot. Way faster! Same amount of vinegar though!

This is Knit Picks Bare 70% Merino Wool 30% Silk. This mess turned into this mess....

I didn't like the yellow/orange/red, thought hard about it and over dyed it. I like the result much better. The thing with dyeing yarn is (at least with me), it's unpredictable. I don't want to read lots of tutorials, I want instant gratification, and love the suspense. What will the outcome be? This yarn has a shine to it, because of the silk content. I'm satisfied.

click on the pics for a closer look

Yesterday, I was showing Hannah how to dye yarn the easiest way I know. I only used one skein for myself. This red one is Knit Picks Bare 65% Superwash Wool, 25% Nylon, 10% Donegal. I used Fire Red, and the skein is almost solid. It's kind of orangey red with the blue, yellow, read and green specks in it. Will be lovely socks when it's all grown up.

Hannah likes bold colors and I like them too. Isn't this combination gorgeous! So vibrant! She used Knit Picks Bare 100% Superwash Wool from the worsted weight variety. These are Easter egg colors. And below is her second skein. This is absolutely lovely. I'd like to have it myself, but I'm afraid, she wont let me have it. Here she used Knit Picks Bare 75% Superwash Wool, 25% Nylon, especially good for socks. Can't wait to see what she's going to make with it.

The last skein for today is Knit Picks Bare Lace Weight, 100% Merino Wool. I love it! Mixed my own greens with Jacquard colors. I love the fact, that there's still some blue in there. It's got 880 yds, one can do quite a lot with this.

And the pool guys showed up and got the pool started. It's still filling up with water. Biko can hardly contain her excitement! They did a good job this year. They even vacuumed the pool, without me asking them. I know, I'll pay for it later, but it's nice anyway. The lawn isn't even green yet! ;o)

Yesterday, we had an unplanned outing. On this impromptu excursion we stopped at the Len's Mill store in Guelph, because I've heard a lot about it. I managed to get some sock yarn in black and green solids, nothing exciting, but very useful. I had about 15 minutes left, before they closed the store, I still managed to get those lovely fabrics cut and out the door. They are ready to be whatever I want them to be. Now lets think about that for a minute. Got to go now, ta ta!

Don't you just love Knitpicks? Those yarns look wonderful. The orange in blue reminds me of snow cones in the summer, and the green/red/bluish one reminds me of late summer. Those are all wonderful. Happy Dying.

All of your yarn is just beautiful...I think my favorite is the turquoise and orange!Now I was under the impression that super wash wool wasn't good to dye with. Is the knit picks bare made in a way that it accepts the dye compared to other super wash? Just curious ...I'm still trying to learn? (I've been trying to get my courage up to try dyeing, too) Do I see sheep on the red fabric? Too cute!!

Lovely dyed yarns!! I really want to get back to trying that, did some two years ago when I was pregnant with #3, but she's 17 months now and would not be a good helper. And this year, I could not find any Easter egg dyes marked down after Easter! Just got a big stash of chocolate, Lindt, marked down!!Were you at Len's Mill? I don't think of that as Mill Ends, but there is Cambridge Fibers beside the Lens Mill in Cambridge. If there is another mill end store in Guelph, I'd like to know!!

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About Me

I live in Canada now, but I'm originally from Austria.
My White Shepherd Happy, and Denny the mutt, are my constant companions. Maggie is my sons dog, but she's with me most of the day. I have two grown kids too ;o) by the way.